Ochsner St. Mary nearing capacity

Ochsner St. Mary was nearing capacity Monday, a hospital spokeswoman said, and the hospital is urging people with minor or no symptoms to go elsewhere for testing.
As of Monday, 75% of the patients at the Morgan City hospital were being treated for COVID-19.
“With the influx of patients presenting to the [Emergency Depart-ment], wait times are considerably longer than usual and hospital staff is working diligently to treat patients," spokeswoman Sabrina Williams said.
To accommodate additional patients, the hospital set up an air-conditioned tent outside its Emergency Department to serve as a triage area to test patients who have been exposed to COVID, but are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms.
If you have a minor illness or no symptoms of COVID-19, please consider seeing your primary care provider, or find a COVID-19 testing location near you by visiting the LDH website, Williams said.
If you would like to be vaccinated against COVID-19, call 844-888-2772 or visit my.ochsner.org to schedule a vaccine appointment. Anyone ages 12 and older are now eligible to receive the vaccine.
For more information about COVID-19, please visit www.ochsner.org/coronavirus for FAQs and resources.